Force IQ4 150 to power from battery only?

Force IQ4 150 to power from battery only?

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2019 3:35 am

by mkphotomedia

I'm running a brand-spanking-new IQ4150 with latest firmware off my MacBook Pro 13" 2018 via USB-C, with the packaged USB-C M-M cable. Back seems to want to power itself on USB-C rather than its own battery, which causes two issues: 1) it runs down my MBP's internal battery screamingly quickly when tethered, and 2) macOS occasionally throws up a 'Please unplug the power-hungry USB device to regain USB connections' dialog box and my tether drops, which is annoying as I have to switch to another USB port to get everything back

Since this is my first field shoot with the IQ4150: is there a setting somewhere I'm missing (checked the Power Management options on the back, and not seeing anything obvious), or is this a "feature"? While I could probably switch to using the USB3-USBC cable to force the power requirements down, it would be great to be able to turn this off/on somewhere (as you could on the old P-series backs, which could take either FW power or could be forced onto battery), because sometimes running off external USB-C power is exactly what I want to do, and sometimes it isn't...largely depending on whether or not I have a big-ass USB-C power bank with me or not.